Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Preparing Children 2

Part 16 of the explanation with the ToC: Last Thursday the reasons for the need for preparation of children were explained, in this blog, some practical tips on how to help the child make a smooth transition.

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Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Preparing Children 1

Part 15 of the explanation with the ToC: Once a decision has been made about where a child is going to go, that is just the start of a lengthy road to move the child out. You cannot simply tell the child that this is what has been decided and then have him or her pack his or her things and be dropped off at a new home. Even if the child is to return to his or her own family, a period of preparation is necessary.

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Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Individual Assessment

Part 11 of the explanation with the ToC: No matter whether you are working on the national, district or grassroots level, individual assessments need to be done for every single child, to be able to determine what his or her situation is and what kind of placement is in his or her best interest.

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Individual Assessments: How?

In the previous blog (HERE), we looked at why it is so important to do individual assessments before making decisions about placements for children. In this blog, we will have a look at how individual assessments should be done. The short version: it is NOT a question of sitting across from a child for an hour with a clipboard with questions and rattle your way through them.

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Roleplaying to Overcome Trauma

At the Trauma Informed Practice Conference in Birmingham in September, Nandor Grosch presented the work he does through film-making with institutionalised children, in Hungary. A project where he allows the children to determine the story that is going to be acted out and helps them act it out and film it. Over 400 films have been made by the children to date, over the years.

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Behaviour as Communication

At the Trauma Informed Practice Conference, in Birmingham in September, Caryn Onions presented the achievements and approach of The Mulberry Bush, a therapeutic residential school for children who are severely traumatised, in Oxford. I was very impressed by what they are accomplishing at the Mulberry Bush, and I was particularly struck by their approach to the children’s challenging behaviour.

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